Star Trek's medical Tricorder closer to reality

Ars Technica Newsdesk

Almost all of us have seen some form of Star Trek over the ages and in practically every other episode some strange illness or disease strikes a crew member. Whether it is Dr. "Bones" McCoy or the holographic doctor from Voyager, the first thing in their hands is a medical tricorder. They wave this magical device across the body of the victim afflicted patient and declare something like, "He's got Space Madness", "She's got Transporter Psychosis", or (my favorite) "His brain is gone!".

While the tricorder has not yet arrived for the rest of us in 21st century Earth, it is becoming closer to reality. More specifically, an Italian company is working on creating an inexpensive, hand-held medical device capable of detecting cancer by merely swiping it across the patient's body. Wired News reports:

The new device, TRIMprob (Tissue Resonance InterferoMeter Probe), consists of a battery-powered baton and a specially designed computer [which] houses an antenna that produces microwaves that vary in frequency from 400 MHz to 1,350 MHz. When the microwaves hit a tumor, the tumor resonates at about 400 MHz, producing a signal that interferes with the original signal from the baton. The tumors seem to be in a "less ordered, less organized, less cohesive state" than normal tissue, said TRIMprob's project leader, Dr. Massimo Balma, in an e-mail interview. "When they are in this disordered state, they are able to answer to the TRIM field."

Apparently preliminary tests with this device were able to detect prostate tumors 93% of the time and it was also able to correctly diagnose test subjects as cancer-free 82% of the time. While it is true that the device will need to reach less than 0.0001% false negatives before it is truly useful, it is definitely a significant step forward. And hey, when it comes to checking the prostate, this is a much better form of diagnosis, especially when considering the traditional methods.